Relief on Xavi Hernández’s face when González Fuertes blew the final whistle, after the agonizing Blaugrana victory in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Three points that give them a little more air to finish the first round of the League in third position, 7 points behind Real Madrid and Girona. Even Xavi allowed himself to show his chest by surviving in the Insular with a defensive attitude: “Respect for the current champions, we are there, we are alive.”
“We played too hastily and with too many horizontal steps, and so it was very difficult. We talked about it at half-time, it was about creating diagonals, it was a game for Ferran, for Lamine Yamal, for Vitor Roque, we had to find spaces,” he explained. Coach. “We were missing the last pass, more than a game; In the second half it was better, we had many chances, the victory is deserved, we were good, with a very good intensity.”
Regarding the chances of winning the League, In the last minute. So respect for the current champions, we are there, we are alive,” the Terrassa coach stiffened.
“It’s funny to me, you make assumptions in a negative way, it’s no longer going to happen that we are 10 points behind Madrid and Girona, why talk about this? It seems absurd to me,” Xavi confronted a journalist when asked if he feared being further away from the two co-leaders when he lost 1-0 in the first half.
Regarding the action that represented the winning goal, for Xavi there was no doubt: “For me it is a penalty, it is a push and that is a penalty. Regarding Cancelo, I would say that he is fine, that it is not serious.” He said of the referee that “there is always tension, there are many things, there are nerves, we have a lot at stake, and the penalty is clear.”
For his part, Ferran Torres, named Player of the Match, commented that his team had “had control of the ball” but had lacked “the timing of the last pass, but the most important thing is that we got the three points.” For the Valencian striker, “the three points are essential. I think the penalty was clear, the push to Gündogan is clear.”
